Graham Rogers – Llanelli

May 2018

63-year-old man took photos of himself abusing young girl

A 63-year-old man who “systematically” sexually assaulted a young girl took pictures of the abuse on his mobile phone, a court has heard.

A judge said he had no doubt that if Graham Harry John Rogers’ young victim had not had the courage to tell her mum what was happening, the abuse what have continued – and probably have become “more adventurous”.

Swansea Crown Court heard the girl’s ordeal lasted for more than 18 months – and has left her suffering with nightmares about what happened.

The offending only stopped when the girl told her mum what had been going on.

The prosecutor said Rogers initially denied the allegations, and showed “little facial reaction and did not seem particularly upset” when arrested by police.

However, that changed when forensic experts were able to recover deleted close-up photographs from his mobile phone showing him sexually assaulting the girl.

Mr Jones said police uncovered a total of 34 indecent images of the abuse of a prepubescent girl from his HTC phone – 26 of category C, and eight of the more extreme category B.

When confronted with this new evidence, Rogers was said to be “shocked” – though the prosecutor said that could have been shock at the fact that the deleted photos had been found.

Rogers, of Tirgof, Llangennech, Llanelli, had previously pleaded guilty to five counts of sexually assaulting a girl under 13, and to two counts of making indecent images of a child when he appeared in the dock for sentencing.

In an impact statement read to the court, the girl’s mum described the recent events as “like a nightmare” from which she could not wake up.

The mother added that her daughter used to be a “happy, smiling child” who now wakes up in the middle of the night in tears, having relived the abuse in her dreams.

Giving Rogers a discount for his guilty plea the judge sentenced him to four years in prison for each of the five sexual assault cases, 12 months for making the category B images, and eight months for category C images, all the sentences to run concurrently – at the same time – making a total of four years in prison.

He will serve half that time in prison before being released on licence.

Rogers will also be on the sex offenders register for the rest of his life, and was made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order to limit his access to young girls.